Lantigua only has four words after grand jury appearance

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x857485866/Lantigua-only-has-four-words-after-grand-jury-appearance

By Keith Eddings keddings@eagletribune.com

SALEM, Mass. – Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua yesterday met the grand jury that already has indicted two of his top aides in a half-hour session that came just days after the FBI grilled a city employee and Lantigua confidant about tens of thousands of dollars allegedly missing from city parking receipts.

Neither Lantigua nor his lawyer, Jeffrey Denner – one of the state’s most prominent criminal defense attorneys – would comment on what happened before the grand jury, although Denner said going in that he did not believe Lantigua is a target of its investigation.

Asked after the session if he stood by that statement, Denner declined to comment, citing “the secrecy and sanctity of grand jury proceedings.”

“There is very little we can say today, other than that this is a continuing proceeding and Mayor Lantigua and I will, as time goes on, have more to say,” Denner said as he and Lantigua walked from the Essex County courthouse and into the throng of reporters and photographers awaiting them on the sidewalk.

Lantigua stood beside Denner during the three-minute press conference outside, wearing a gray pin-striped suit, crossing his hands in front of himself, smiling slightly and uncharacteristically silent.

He broke his silence only as he stepped into the front seat of the silver Range Rover provided by Denner’s Boston law firm that took them from the courthouse, when he turned to reporters, waved his arm and shouted, “I love you all.”

Whatever Lantigua’s testimony yesterday, it was a milestone for his troubled administration and for a grand jury that already has subpoenaed about a dozen of its employees and indicted two on bribery, extortion, and conspiracy charges.

On Sept. 11, 2012, the grand jury indicted Lantigua’s former chief of staff, Leonard Degnan for allegedly pressuring a city contractor to donate vehicles to municipalities in the Dominican Republic, where Lantigua was born, returns often and has become a force in national politics in recent years.
Also on Sept. 11, the grand jury indicted Deputy Police Chief Melix Bonilla, who managed Lantigua’s 2009 mayoral campaign, for swapping 13 city vehicles for four owned by a used car dealer connected to Lantigua who specializes in sending used cars to the Dominican Republic. Investigators said the deal cost the city about $30,000.

The Essex County grand jury also is investigating allegations of bid rigging, suspicious out-of-country travel and campaign finance violations, according to transcripts of the testimony it has heard that were included in a motion Bonilla filed to have his charges dismissed. The motion was denied.
Last week, another allegation may have been added to the mix when the FBI questioned parking attendant Justo Garcia about the collections that may be missing from the Museum Square garage, where Lantigua gave Garcia an attendant’s job and then promoted him to second in command with responsibility for collecting the proceeds for monthly passes at the cash-only garage.

“My assumption would be there’s probably a variety of topics they’re interested in,” Denner told WCVB, a Boston television station, early yesterday about the missing money. “I assume that would be one of them.”

Lantigua’s appearance before the grand jury yesterday was notable for its brevity and for the fact that grand juries rarely subpoena the targets of their investigation, although it was unclear whether Lantigua appeared as a witness to crimes that may have been committed by someone else.
Lantigua received his subpoena ordering him to the grand jury as he disembarked from a plane at Logan International Airport Monday night, when he returned from a trip of more than two weeks to Florida and the Dominican Republic.

At the grand jury yesterday, Lantigua apparently made none of the motions and requested none of the hearings that other city employees who so far have testified before grand jury have sought. There appeared to be no attempt to quash the subpoena or to request to be allowed to invoke Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination, which likely would have required a review by a judge.

Lantigua and Denner arrived at the courthouse at 1:45 p.m., a few minutes before their scheduled hearing. The two went down to the grand jury hearing room in the basement, then came back up to the courthouse atrium a few minutes later, where they conferred alone for about 20 minutes before going back down. They left the building just before 3 p.m.

Denner has represented some of the most high-profile clients in Massachusetts and the nation, including Christian Gerhartsreiter, who last month was convicted in the murder of a California man in 1985 and went by the name of Clark Rockefeller while living in Boston.

Denner also represented former state Treasurer Timothy Cahill against charges that a state Lottery advertising campaign he authorized was designed to promote his failed candidacy for governor in 2010. In February, Cahill paid $100,000 as part of a settlement that ended the case. Denner also won an $18.1 million wrongful death settlement for the family of Milena Del Valle, the 38-year-old woman who was killed when a 26-ton concrete panel fell from the ceiling of the Big Dig tunnel in Boston in 2006.